How Dems Will Win By A Landslide | James Carville & Al Hunt
Politicon
Aug 20, 2024
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Politics War Room (with James Carville & Al Hunt)
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Democratic Party chairs from Virginia, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida discuss the upcoming election and the importance of their state parties. They highlight the energy and excitement on the ground, the need for voter protection, and the impact of the change in the Democratic ticket. They also discuss the challenges they face, such as voter suppression and counting issues, and the importance of winning down-ballot races. The chairs emphasize the importance of unity within the party and the need to consolidate support behind candidates early on. Overall, they express optimism and determination to defeat Donald Trump and the Republicans.
Email your questions to James and Al at politicswarroom@gmail.com or tweet them to @politicon. Make sure to include your city– we love to hear where you’re from!
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Transcript
- 0:00
- hey James we are in the high cotton I mean we have four guests uh who are chairs of the most some of the most
- important parties Democratic chairs the most important states in the country
- Susan Zucker of Virginia uh
- Lavora Barnes of Michigan
- Ben wickler of Wisconsin and
- Nikki freed of Florida all
states that really will matter a lot in November so let me just start with each
of you uh Susan uh a couple weeks ago at least before Harris Trump was making
sounds that they really were going to compete in Virginia are they well um
they keep saying they are going to compete and and bring staff on board and
and set up shop haven't seen a lot of that just a little bit of that but you know what it doesn't matter what they do
we've got our plan and we've got 18 offices open in Virginia uh with Harris
Waltz now 25 by the end of the month we've had a 100,000 uh volunteers sign
1:00
up since Memorial Day and um and so it whatever they do they're going to do
1:06
we've got a plan we're going to work our plan lavor the 15 electoral votes of Michigan have worried Democrats earlier
1:13
particularly with the Gaza conflict and the primary showed some disaffection has
1:18
Harris made a difference and how do you feel about your prospects in November yeah Harris has definitely made a
1:24
difference you know the folks in Michigan are are all saying that they are feeling an openness willingness to listen and have have conversations that
1:30
they weren't feeling before you know these folks who voted uncommitted were always good Democrats always part of
1:36
this party and uh always had the desire to make sure Trump didn't win so that's the work we're doing together we talk to
1:42
these folks in their communities every day and they know that Donald Trump is not the answer um they're looking for
1:48
you know some more information about vice president Harris and they will get it remembering that she's only been in this race about a month um but when they
1:55
get that information they're going to come home and they're going to help us beat Donald Trump and the go the thing doesn't doesn't worry you oh it's it's a
2:01
thought we think about it all the time we are making sure that we're having all the conversations we need to have um in
2:06
that Community we've hired staff specifically to work in the arab-american and Muslim Community from
2:11
that Community because that's how we organize um hire folks from the community to speak to their Community um and so they're having those
2:17
conversations and they'll continue to but we know that in the end they know that Donald Trump is not who they need
2:24
in the White House to to to further their goals they know that we know that so we're to make sure we're all come
2:30
together to beat Trum Trump Ben wickler same question about Wisconsin about what a difference Harris uh might make you
2:36
were worried not you know the party was worried earlier about black turnout in Milwaukee and about Youth and other
2:43
turnout in Daye with both places you have to really really do well has that changed in the last month with uh the
2:49
change in the ticket Wisconsin is the Perpetual nailbiter state where the only state with four of the last six
2:55
presidential elections coming down to less than 1% and there was this period before the the big shift where people
3:02
were just getting so uh so nervous and and thinking all the time about who our
3:07
nominee should be instead of about how to make sure our nominee wins that is totally shifted we are now caught in an
3:14
updraft of energy that touches every single metric that we can measure this is true for black voters and Latino
3:19
voters and white voters and M voters this is true for young voters this is true for older voters it's true in
3:25
Madison and Milwaukee and in rural Wisconsin and in the small and mediumsized town all over the state
3:31
every single thing we can measure is going in the right direction right now which is not to say it's a sure thing it means that we have the the energy to
3:38
make this the kind of fight where where we grind it out and even if turn out skyrockets on the other side which we
3:43
have to be ready for even if that happens I think we're going to over top them and and win Wisconsin Nikki Florida
3:50
has been a great tease for Democrats in the last two presidential elections uh
3:55
and uh I I noticed the other day Republicans now have a huge registry ation Advantage you also have some
4:02
pluses you have abortion and marijuana on the ballot which presumably would bring out some of your voters do you
4:07
really have a shot in Florida this year we do we have a a huge shot and and you know even the misrepresentation of the
4:15
the voter registration Gap and I think most people not only in Florida but across the country don't understand exactly what happened so in 2022 under
4:22
the leadership of Ronda santis and Republicans they passed a new law that every single year there has to be list
4:28
maintenance um for the supervisors of Elections and they changed the definition of an active voter so last
4:35
year alone 880,000 Democrats ended up on the inactive list and that is what's
4:42
making this difference they all can still vote um and of course there's a disproportionate amount of
4:47
African-American and Hispanics that are on that list about 40% um are African-American and 30% are Hispanic
4:54
and those are people that may not have voted in 2022 I think that is historically known that um the Democrats
5:00
uh the bottom fell out in November of 2022 with a million Democrats not showing up in the gubernatorial race and
5:05
a lot of those people end up on this enactive list so when we are able to talk to those voters who may not have
5:11
been feeling touched in the last two election Cycles have a reason to come out this time they all can vote um and
5:17
that's how we start to make up some of those gaps and Florida has now almost onethird of our electorate is
5:23
independent and they have been breaking for Democrats 65 to 70% we saw that in the mayor's race in Jackson last year
5:30
flipping one of our house seats this year um and so when an energized Democratic base that is organized that
5:37
is boots on the ground we too have about 25,000 new volunteers just in the last three weeks and we have a new
5:43
organization that's organizing that's putting all those boots on the ground we hit a million doors um as of this past
5:49
weekend um from the beginning of 2024 1.3 million phone calls in the last since get getting up to our primary
5:55
which is on T tomorrow Tuesday um and so these are the opportunities so collectively we have an energized base
6:04
we have a state that is pissed off that Ron DeSantis has taken us into such an
6:09
extreme Direction um in which property insurance is still the number one issue
6:14
property insurance under desantis's leadership or lack thereof um has grown 400% um since he became Governor it's
6:21
the highest in the country six week abortion ban book Banning decimation of our complete education system both from
6:27
K through 12 higher ed abortions on the ballot cannabis is on the ballot and a
6:33
fractured Republican party you know Ronda Sanz doesn't want Donald Trump or Rick Scott to win you know it hurts his
6:40
brand um he'd rather see them lose and so he can go out in 2028 and say see I should have been your nominee in 24 so
6:46
there's interesting dynamics that are happening in our state on top of that um we are the second largest student
6:52
population outside of California between our state universities our HBCU our colleges and when they are energized and
7:00
we have been doing dorm storms um all week and seeing just huge numbers of voter registration to that Generation
7:06
all of these things are converging at the same moment of a perfect storm that don't sleep on Florida James Carville
7:13
don't sleep on Florida I'm going to go and reverse AO n he said tear apart my
7:19
argument we obviously affect each other a lot and if you could just talk about
7:26
how important and critical insurance Price is in Florida and why do we think
7:32
that that might be not a sleeper issue but a a huge issue and talk about what's
7:38
happening because I also have a place in the I live in the Gulf South myself so I know a little bit about insurance
7:44
rates frankly my wife and I just we just take the crap shoot because we have a morgage i Ain pay that knock it
7:50
down just knock it down yeah it it's the number one issue whether you have lived there for for decades and now can't
7:57
afford your property insurance or you are a new homeowner and can't afford it or even if you are a renter and your
8:04
landlord is then increasing your cost of your if your rent because of that so
8:09
every single person in the State of Florida is impacted uh it is again a 400% increase I mean my mom is 73 years
8:15
old and her own and her property insurance doubled
8:21
you know she's on a fixed income and and so she's even worrying about how she's going to make those payments for her
8:26
mortgage and so it impacts everybody and why the Republicans um are going to be harmed in this election cycle for it is
8:34
because one they've done nothing to fix it in fact every they've had three special sessions so again on taxpayers
8:39
dime to bring everybody up to to Tallahassee and what have they done they've given blank checks to the insurance companies they taking away
8:45
people's rights to sue you're still seeing from some of the the Hurricanes from 2022 the insurance companies are
8:51
walking away and part of that reason is one is our is the climate I mean we are
8:57
surrounded by three bodies of water the Republicans um refuse to accept that the climate is changing and mitigation of
9:04
any of those risks and so why should the insurance companies mitigate the risk when we the people aren't doing it and
9:10
so they're leaving um even citizens which is the supposed to be the insurer of Last Resort in a lot of cases is
9:16
insure of Only Resort uh they too have asked for a the largest increase um this
9:22
past last month um and if in fact we get hit by a hurricane a cat 4 Cat 5 it will
9:28
literally bankrupt our state we are sitting at $530 billion dollar of exposure and
9:34
people in our state don't understand that when citizens has that type of exposure is the people that cover those
9:40
costs because every single homeowner that has a has a uh insurance policy
9:45
will then be responsible even if it's not citizens they are responsible it's a hurricane tax uh and so we all will be
9:51
responsible so it will in fact and bankrupt our state and we are going to hammer that that is our candidates
9:58
they're talking about two issues now they get talk about a third but two issues property insurance and abortion
10:04
rights now the third is the first female president of the United States um but that's why we really believe that this
10:09
is an issue that Democrats have Solutions on have been presenting Solutions and we're going to be rewarded at The Ballot Box for it well thank you
10:16
so Ben we go to you next it strikes me that the Republicans have a particularly
10:21
unappealing Senate candidate in Wisconsin is so relative yeah but this
10:28
guy he but when you say Farmers don't work very hard that's not a I don't know much about Wisconsin I don't think I don't
10:35
think that's a very much of a wi message but do you think there's a any chance we
10:41
talk about possibility of this in North Carolina we to losing negative coils
10:48
that at some point maybe we'll get more excited to vote against him they'll be less excited to vote for him they'll be
10:54
tell us about this this clown running for the Senate and why in part in
10:59
Wisconsin we got a competitive Senator I said too so Wisconsin has one great Senator other states get two senators
11:06
for some reason we only get Tammy Baldwin uh but but she does you know more more than double the the work of
11:12
other Senators she's amazing a champion she fights against special interests most Wisconsin Republicans did not want
11:18
to run against her but there's this one guy who is not a Wisconsin Republican he's a California Banker uh he owns a
11:25
$3.2 billion Bank in Orange County California he was voted one of Orange County's most influential citizens three
11:31
times in a row which uh when Tammy bald's on the stomp she likes to say now is there an Orange County in Wisconsin
11:37
no we don't grow oranges in the state of Wisconsin we make milk in Wisconsin uh
11:43
we uh so Orange County Banker Eric Hy uh he grew up in in in Madison moved to
11:49
Washington DC got rich came back to try to run for Senate in 2012 lost the primary to the person who then lost to
11:55
Tammy Baldwin then moved out to California made even more money uh flirted with running in 2018 now he's
12:00
back and you know the Will Rogers quote I never met a man I didn't like Eric Hy has never met a Wisconsin night he did
12:07
like his his uh his Litany of people
12:12
that he's just offended baldly is astonishing for anyone who wants to get votes from those people he's not only
12:19
has said that farmers don't work hard anymore they just sit around on their tractors he said seniors in nursing homes don't have the mental capacity to
12:26
vote uh he has said that young people now don't have a work ethic uh which uh
12:32
you know go go uh take that young people he said women think too much about Hollywood he said that people struggling
12:39
with their weight should pay extra for their health insurance as a penalty because there have to be consequences for their decisions uh he's the list
12:46
goes on and on we actually have a website that's a handy reference guide Eric Hy does likee
12:52
you.com and this is the guy that that Republicans found there's one reason why they wanted him to run for Senate which
12:57
is that he has a gig pile of money that he's willing to set on fire so he is now running ads all over the state and you
13:04
know sometimes ding to to you know show up here there and mangled the Pledge of Allegiance in an amazing moment uh in a
13:10
in a at the uh at a the Slinger racetrack in in Slinger Wisconsin but
13:15
he's he's kind of a microcosm of so much that's wrong with the Republican party at this moment it's a party of
13:21
billionaires that looks down on regular people and tries to enact an extreme agenda including total abortion bands
13:27
which he's has a track record of support ing all in service of a a mega vision of
13:34
total disaster and chaos and it means that Democrats have one more reason to vote and it also means that Republicans
13:40
have one less reason to vote that he just doesn't actually inspire anyone on the Republican side to get out and cast
13:46
a ballot so we have the presidential race which has this Dynamic JD Vance is stalking around Wisconsin right now he's
13:51
going to be in Wisconsin on Tuesday against the giant rally for Harris and walls we have Eric Hy we have in the US
13:57
House we have a guy like derck Orton who has made a name for himself nationally by screaming obscenities at teenagers in
14:04
the US capital uh possibly Under the Influence not not entirely clear uh and being denounced on the senate floor by
14:10
Mitch McConnell as well as by Chuck Schumer for for yelling at these teenage Senate Pages which is just a disgrace to
14:17
our state is the same guy who was on Capital grounds on January 6th and then uh deleted his tweets and lied about it
14:23
afterwards we have screenshots uh so that's in the house and then we have our state legislature where the Republican
14:29
party has been a complete disgrace and now they are facing Fair maps for the first time in 14 years so at every level
14:36
of the ballot we have Republicans who energize Democrats and Democrats who energize Democrats and Republicans in
14:42
disarray that is what gives I mean even in a state Wisconsin is the the fourth hardest state to vote in the country second hardest state to register to vote
14:48
even with the the the unions have been smashed by Scott Walker and the Republicans even with all the rules rigged against us that kind of energy
14:55
and the contrast with our candidates gives me enormous hope as we go into the fall so I'm talk about Michigan because
15:01
I always tell here with Democrats we're a coalition and if you're in a coalition and you're comfortable you're not in a
15:06
coalition you're in something else the nature of being in a coalition is that somebody and let's talk about our our
15:14
Muslim brothers and sisters at a a large part of your say are you doing is there any Outreach to try
15:20
to bring understand what these people are saying and try to bring them in F and understand and kind of consistent
15:27
we've been doing Outreach as a all all year um we have um a a coalition's director who has taken on the task of
15:34
making sure we build a strong outreach program I have been in the community multiple times meeting with leaders having conversations we've hired these
15:41
young fellows from the community who spend all of their time taking meetings and having conversations with folks and
15:47
listening and passing on um the information and the questions that folks ask we have made it our business to make
15:54
sure that folks know that they are a welcome member of our Coalition and it is a big ass coalition in Michigan
15:59
absolutely um and we don't win without all of the members of that Coalition participating and we've been make making
16:05
it very clear that they are welcome in our Coalition and that we want them to help us defeat Trump you know we don't
16:10
we don't win with one piece of that Coalition or two pieces of that Coalition we win with the entirety of it
16:16
with the fist I just did the fist I'm on a podcast nobody can see it but um we win with all those pieces of that
16:22
Coalition together and so that's why we do that Outreach in the Muslim and Arab Community we do Outreach in the black community we do Outreach in our rural
16:28
communities we do like we are everywhere all the time in Michigan and that's how you win being everywhere all the time so
16:35
Susan you and I've been princ over 42 years I guess 1982 1982 and you've been
16:42
she was a baby she was a child you're long serving chairman of State party could you share with our listeners what
16:50
state parties do and why these people important that we're talking to and if I
16:55
give money to the state party how how can I feel feel comfortable that's going to be put to good use so just give us a
17:01
little bit what what y'all do and what these people do and as you you know James um I've been involved in the party
17:08
all my life in one way or the other I grew up in the party I was County chair of Highland County Democratic committee
17:14
at age 22 uh smallest smallest county in the state more sheep than people but you
17:20
know I I I came up through the party so I under people like lavor did too who is
17:26
from got her start in Virginia with alen dostein and other great leaders who brought us in so I always saw value in
17:33
the party and when the party um chairmanship opened up uh I made a
17:39
conscious decision to run with encouragement from uh our leaders but
17:45
part of the reason I wanted I was running was to and I put this into my announcement to put a permanent
17:52
infrastructure in place so that you know in Virginia we have elections every year
17:57
so that we weren't rebuilding something from year to year or who was party chair to party chair and that we would be
18:05
sustainable if we didn't have a governor never thinking that would happen but lo
18:11
and behold it did and I have to say for our plan worked our plan has worked I
18:19
mean yes I have been shair for nine longer than Joe Fitzpatrick James Joe Fitzpatrick was chair in Virginia
18:25
remember him for over seven years and I'm on nine so it's about three lifetimes but what I am really really
18:33
proud of there are a lot of things but we were you know I did not know exactly
18:39
what would happen after we we not only lost the governor's race we lost the Statewide ticket and we lost the house
18:45
so we put all of our focus on getting back uh the house and keeping the Senate
18:53
and we were on our own for a lot of it a lot of Skeptics in you know across you
18:59
know bomic didn't think we could do it but with you know our two US senators
19:05
our leadership in the House and Senate we pulled together and strongly oppose
19:10
Glenn Yan's move to the far right and his doubling down on the abortion ban and so many other things and we won so
19:18
that's one of the things that you get for your money is a strong State party
19:24
who is able to uh no whether the storm no matter what happened be able to
19:30
communicate the message do the hard work of showing up as a laor just talked to in all these communities because I take
19:37
to heart um the words of a very wise President Bill Clinton who said politics
19:42
is about addition not sub subtraction and uh it has been you know it's just
19:49
you never give up you keep fighting that's why it's really important as a state party because we all we we're
19:56
we're we're all friends us sh and end this together but it's really important work what Nikki's doing cuz I'm lucky I
20:04
have a great you know great stakeholders great Democratic leaders that have been
20:10
very very helpful but damn it that's a really hard job when you don't when you're in that hole and I remember those
20:16
times in Virginia and you can't give up because things atrophy if you give
20:22
up no I I I'll make one point and I'll turn over to I I we selected these four
20:28
State party chairs because not all state parties are created equal just frankly some are better than others these are in
20:34
alen I's opinion four of the best state parties in the United States and they
20:40
all four of them do a terrific job and very important job and we're very glad to have them bber Tob well let me throw
20:47
it open how worried are any of you and everybody jump in here about um voting
20:54
suppression before the election and Counting issues after the election well
21:00
I can start we are very um one because our our secretary of state is a Qin on
21:07
um who was appointed by Ronda santis and so we have already we have both a voter Protection Team on inside the party as
21:14
well as in the coordinated campaign for Harris um because we know the games that will be played we know that that that
21:21
the Trump campaign has tried to recruit volunteers all across the country for poll watching and poll working um and
21:27
they're going to Target where they're Target they're going to Target our our seniors they're going to Target our minority communities and our youth
21:33
communities and so making sure that we've got people on the front lines that are the eyes and ears and to find
21:39
protection for those people who are going to come and and to vote because look we we saw what happened on January 6 and they're learning their lessons of
21:46
how to get the job done prior to the votes being counted uh so we are monitoring it we are you know I lose
21:53
sleep on it uh we are consistently um asking for attorneys to be volunteering
21:58
um our goal is to have an attorney at every single one of our polling locations across the State of Florida U
22:04
and is of course being ready for the campusing boards uh and they continue to change all the laws of when they can kick out vote by mail ballots they also
22:10
wiped out our vote by mail every two years now everybody has to resign up um so we know that Democrats have had a
22:17
three to one advantage on vote by mail returns and we have to start all over again uh December 31st of this year for
22:24
the next election cycle it's real in Florida it's it's real everywhere actually if you you think about like in
22:29
Michigan I'm going to go out on a limb and say we have the best secretary of state in the country in Joselyn Benson but we also need to have and do have a
22:37
full-time voter Protection Team we've had one on staff at this state party since 2018 because this is work that
22:43
goes on all the time and in the local communities in Michigan elections are so decentralized that we have to spend a
22:48
lot of time talking to over a thousand clerks about election processes and making sure that we are um protecting
22:54
that vote for everyone so we've got that big team we've got lawyers who are ready for anything the conversations they've
23:00
had about the the eventualities or the possibilities that they are prepared for have blown my mind the things that I
23:06
would have never thought could possibly happen in this country they are ready for pre-election and postelection and I
23:12
think it's important that in all of our states we are ready just like Nikki said ready for whatever is going to come
23:17
because they are coming they've shown us a little bit of their playbook before you know we've even had in in Michigan a
23:23
local clerk try to deny canvasing and accepting the election results and small
23:29
May election just I think to test the waters and see how we would respond so you have to worry about no I Statewide
23:35
you're great got a great secretary state Governor attorney but counties exactly exactly and that's a CH more of a
23:42
challenge than last time I think so I think what they did after 2020 was pay a lot of attention to who their clerks
23:49
were going to be in these local counties and who were on their election boards and they have put some of their most radical Maga people in those places um
23:57
so one of our projects has been sort of a clerks project where we're trying to run against these clerks and win these seats we've won some of them but not all
24:03
of them so there are plenty of Clerks in Michigan who are Maga clerks who have been very clear that they deny the
24:09
election from 2020 and we expect that they will try something we're not sure what it will look like to make it hard
24:15
for us to certify these votes point to go to Ben and Susan what you listening to is why you don't need
24:21
to donate to the state parties because you know these legal issues are sitting there you know they're right you know
24:27
they're going to try it the state parties are the people that put the legal teams together okay in that state
24:34
so I I just thank you for that the rest of you but I just wanted to make that point why this is critical go ahead
24:39
that's that's exactly right and I think you Wisconsin is a very similar situation in Michigan Wisconson has also
24:45
famously decentralized election Administration 1850 Municipal clerks for us it's not even the county level it's
24:51
the each individual City Village Township in our state has a local clerk that runs the election right there we've
24:56
seen attempts at election sabotage and subversion at the local level we had to recruit uh poll workers last year to
25:03
submit for this year which means that if you're not running a year-round program then you miss the boat they're legally
25:09
required to choose from submissions from each of the parties before they look to other lists for potential po workers so
25:15
we are running a huge voter protection operation we have our our the state actually doesn't compile list of early
25:20
vote locations so that's something that our team does City by city across the state vote. wisd.org you can find that
25:27
that list of local polling locations you can volunteer but I will say something else so in Wisconsin we have a state
25:32
supreme court majority that is now Progressive that is now actually believes in democracy we came in within
25:38
one vote of our state supreme court overturning the last election and the objection by the swing voter was that
25:43
the Trump campaign waited till after the election to start filing their lawsuits so they had a game plan for how they were going to change this time if we
25:49
hadn't won the Supreme Court in 2023 we'd be in tough tough situation but the
25:54
best protection in this election is to win big they cannot steal a landslide in
25:59
Wisconsin you can't call for a recount if you win by more than 1% now we had recounts in both 2016 and 2020 because
26:05
we didn't clear that Mark but our our biggest goal for everyone to know is is to get more voters out so that we're
26:12
outside the margin of stealing the election and that is something that if we have multiple paths to 270 if we win
26:19
by bigger margins in each of these states then we'll know that once we win we win and that that is that is goal one
26:26
Ben would you know what to do with a landslide you know we got a little taste of
26:31
landslide territory in our state supreme court election in 2023 and it tasted good that that that was a squeaky
26:38
cheesec CT I'll tell you that much Susan yeah we're a little bit like uh what
26:43
lavoris situation uh when we had the traa um some years ago uh we Democrats
26:51
passed uh election reform that made voting in Virginia a lot easier and more accessible uh what we have seen is the
26:58
Republicans still put in bills to try to repeal that and fortunately we had the blue brick wall in the Senate and now
27:04
the house that that stopped that but where they are making their Mark and this is why like the rest of you all our
27:12
big part of our budget is voter protection and it has increased every year that I have been a state chair
27:19
because it's more important but the party in in in the governor's office controls the local electoral boards to
27:27
and they go flip 2 to one and back when I started out and got to know James
27:34
those jobs were seen as kind of rewards for service you didn't really have to do that much and now it's it's a full-time
27:42
commitment of being know being ever Vigilant and a lot of the Lo local electoral boards again and they've been
27:51
advised to do this they've they've pulled back the Sunday voting they've pulled back satellite locations they've
27:57
Dropbox all the things that you know they're just slowly trying to repeal
28:02
them on the local level and we have the same kind of effort going on and you
28:08
just have to stay ever Vigilant but you know I I thank you for mentioning that James because I didn't but again like
28:14
that is a key piece of all of us is like help fund that because it's really critical good well you have I'm going to
28:23
talk about down bout a little bit but three of you have Senate races this year
28:28
Michigan and Florida and Wisconsin and you have Susan sen Rice have a senate
28:33
rice I get these I get these emails and Tim came and says Virginia will decide
28:39
which party controls the if Virginia decides that you're going to have a lot of
28:44
Republicans but in any event you do have a sener race and you also have several competitive house races yes down ballot
28:52
what difference has the change in the ticket made uh for November you know in
28:58
in Michigan we run a fully coordinated coordinated campaign everyone folds in
29:04
um so the the first thing that's happened with this change is that the excitement and energy on the ground from
29:09
the volunteers has gone up exponentially which means there are more volunteers to
29:14
knock the many many doors we need to knock and make the many many phone calls we have I also will say some of our
29:19
candidates are more fired up and more excited and more excited to be part of that coordinated campaign than they were
29:24
before I think they're feeling the energy on the ground and really want to be part of it and I think that we have
29:31
um The Joy which is a word that I've heard used more in the context of politics ever then in my life like we we
29:38
don't talk about Joy but now now we do and people like showing up at our offices we got 53 offices across the
29:44
state people like showing up at our offices and working together and finding their state house candidate there
29:49
finding their Congressional candidate there finding Alyssa slotkin there who's running for that US senate seat because she is everywhere in the state um so
29:55
that they can knock doors with them and be part of what feels like a movement in many ways more than just a campaign but
30:01
really does sort of feel like a movement on the ground in Michigan and I know our down ballot folks are feeling that and
30:06
um it makes them have hope and excitement and I think they're all raising a little bit more money too I
30:12
will say we see the same thing in Wisconsin so we have our Senate race we have the house races and then in the
30:17
state legislature we finally got Fair Maps they were signed into law this February so right now Republicans have a
30:23
super majority in our state senate 22 out of the 33 seats and then the State Assembly they've they have 64 out of the
30:29
99 seats we only have 35 but yesterday the the a one of the foremost analysts
30:36
of State Legislative races uh Chaz nycom on has a big Twitter presence revealed
30:41
his new State Legislative forecast and he said Wisconsin's assembly majority is
30:46
a toss-up we we now are we are absolutely in range for going from near
30:51
super minority status to flipping 15 plus seats in in a 99 seat chamber and
30:57
winning an outright majority in the in the Wisconsin Assembly which would be a sea change in our state unlocking
31:03
everything from from voting rights potentially Medicaid expansion cannabis legalization so much and over two cycles
31:09
we can win a trifecta we can win our state senate majority and uh you know make sure we have a Democratic governor
31:14
in our next term uh two-term Tony has you know said the word three- term Tony here once or twice we'll we'll find out
31:20
what he winds up deciding but there's a huge opportunity and the change at the top of the ticket has unlocked this well
31:26
of energy so the candidates are more excited to knock cuz they're not being pestered about what's happening in the Democratic ticket now people are just
31:32
asking how they get involved people are demanding yard signs for candidates up and down the ballot we have our our Rebecca Cooks now our third
31:38
congressional district nominee she grew up on a dairy farm in oair the dairy farm across the street from the oakair
31:44
farm where 13,000 people showed up for Tim Walls and uh vice president Harris
31:49
in Wisconsin a couple weeks ago and and that is the kind of energy in rural Wisconsin that powers huge victories
31:55
down ballot as well and we're seeing and we're seeing it too all over Florida you know we still have our primary uh so we
32:01
are late welcome to Florida uh primary is Tuesday so we will have our US Senate
32:06
candidate um after this Tuesday tomorrow primary um and but we are see but we're running against Rick Scott who is the
32:13
most disliked member of the US Senate he his last poll that came it's a close contest with Ted Cruz but he's I don't
32:19
know about I mean I think he he even votes right of of of Ted Cruz so he is the most extreme in in his votes uh in
32:26
the Senate he also so a poll came out last week has 35% favorability um so for being Statewide
32:34
run three times nobody likes him we already knew that um and now we have an opportunity in apparatus with 25,000
32:41
volunteers with energy up and down the ticket this is the first time that Florida Democrats have fielded a seat uh
32:48
in every Congressional every house and every Senate in over 30 years and I want
32:54
to probably say ever um because back in the day and that's only 30 years because
32:59
we don't have records that go back any further um back then the Democrats controlled so the reality is that the
33:05
Republican party has never done this and so that's continuing to bring the energy from all parts of our state um we do
33:12
have a 67 County plan um because everything right now is on is on the line and we do feel like everything is
33:18
possible in some of these even these more red rural areas you don't see Trump banners you don't see Trump Flags you
33:25
see more Democrats being willing to put out their flag and get out of their houses and show their support for the
33:30
Democrats and people too are showing up at every one of our offices we have 300 new Volunteers in Okaloosa County which
33:37
is Matt Gates's Hometown so that tells you everything you need to know that Florida Democrats are energized by this
33:44
moment um and Republicans don't like Rick Scott so as long as we continue doing our job giving them hope giving
33:50
them opportunity and of course if one of our candidates who is a female comes out of the primary that adds to the
33:56
conversation about women and Empower and women opportunities um and it will be I
34:01
believe our first female US senator uh coming out of the state of Florida pick up on this but I I also our friend and
34:08
colleague Joe kle wrote something that that really captured my attention this morning he said I've written a lot of bad things about Donald Trump I've
34:15
called him a lot of names but I'm about to call him something I've never called him before which is boring we're really
34:21
getting you know people are getting is is is there an element of that there and and how is that you know affecting we
34:27
were talking about downb races but just give your a sense of that Susan no he's a lot less interesting you know than the
34:34
2015 Donald Trump riding down that escalator and I just it seems like to me
34:40
he's just kind of old and grumpy and uh and look he's mad he's mad that he had a
34:47
plan and the plan got disrupted and you know why you don't think he's better looking than K the other day yeah right
34:55
I mean it's just it's even hard to believe that is just even like coming out of somebody's mouth that's a nominee
35:01
for you know the highest office in the land but but he um
35:06
it but I just think the contrast too is just so different and I also am so
35:13
grateful and so inspired by the fact that KLA Harris and Tim walz are
35:19
fighting back you know I think when Trump first came on the political scene
35:26
no one knew how to oh he that a real and you know H he gonna be real or whatever
35:33
but like I I mean I I double dog dare that man to go out and hover around KLA
35:40
Harris like he did Hillary Clinton on that debate stage because I'm can tell you I don't think she's GNA take it
35:46
James so I I'm going to try to wrap this up a little bit but uh there a one word
35:52
that every one thing that every Democratic State party chairman hates and that's Democrat
35:58
primaries okay and Nikki there was particularly been a historical problem
36:04
in Florida and apparently you clean that up and we didn't have any of these decisive
36:10
primaries is that true yeah I mean primaries and the problem in Florida primaries is it's so late you know
36:17
August and and so that that gives a free range especially in a state like Florida where the Republicans do have more money
36:24
and they have more resources and they are in power and so our primaries again end of August it gives us two and a half
36:30
months to reorganize to make sure there's funding there that the candidates have to spend all of this money just talking to the Democratic
36:37
base and like I said earlier in the show onethird of our state is independent and so we're not talking to those
36:43
Independence until the end of August beginning of September it really puts at us at a significant disadvantage um so I
36:50
I you know in some cases like primaries are good it weeds out you know it weeds out conversations but in the in the
36:56
grand scheme of things um here in Florida Florida um it's it's not worth the juice isn't worth the squeeze and
37:03
it's really important to consolidate and get behind candidates early because um we are at a deficit if we have to wait to off our primary well thank youall uh
37:10
we had very high hopes for this panel I think it we can easily say Albert they were exceeded I I thinked James can we
37:17
just do one thing just in 15 seconds what would you like to hear from kamla
37:23
Harris Thursday night what why I'm for you because Donald Trump's not for you why
37:30
I'm for you I think this is a great opportunity for her to tell her story herself I think a lot of Americans don't
37:36
know as much about kamla as I do and I want them to so I want her to tell her story Ben vice president Harris was a
37:44
child in Madison Wisconsin and she grew up dedicating her life to protecting
37:50
people and to standing up against often powerful wealthy criminals and scamsters and and frauders and delivered for folks
37:58
and has is now facing down the biggest special interest in the country to bring cost down and to fight for freedom for everyone her telling her personal story
38:05
from going working at McDonald's as a teenager to being the sitting Vice President of the United States and how she'll fight for all the people who
who've had life experiences just like hers all the people in States like Wisconsin and across the country that is
a powerful message that Republicans have no answer to and I can't wait to hear from the stage yeah you know as uh the
future first female president of the United States um learning some lessons from 2016 um a lot of times you know
women in politics you have to be one or the other you either have to be you know if you're strong you're considered a
or you're weak and so KLA strikes that beautiful balance um that she
demands presence and and on the stage and and and understanding of the issues and commanding of what is going on
around her so showing up that that night and showing women and young girls uh that everything is possible um dream big
cuz those dreams I live in Florida those dreams do come true so I want I want Susan and Nikki I want y'all to make a
39:01
promise to me we will be between now and election
day damn St you know I'm in there too come on you can be
a too we need some in this part I think can we get t-shirts to say
proud yeah I'll wear it more and less preachy females I that's right
wow all right James let's just thank them all they've been fabulous fabulous
[Music]
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